Larry Dixon, Mike Neff, Allen Johnson, and Matt Guidera concluded the opening day of the third annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in the No. 1 spots at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
A strong crowd of race fans came out to enjoy the event Friday and saw some quick numbers in the day's final qualifying session. Hot weather earlier in the day, combined with a slightly green top end following the track's recent repaving, limited the nitro cars in the initial stanza, but by day's end everyone was flying.
The conclusion of the event, the 12th on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour, will mark the midway point of the season.
Larry Dixon
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The Top Fuel qualifying lead changed hands five times in the final session before Dixon, the first-session leader, took back his crown with a 3.882 in the Jason McCulloch-tuned Al-Anabi/Alan Johnson Racing dragster.
“The first run we went down the track and ran decent,” said Dixon. “You’re just trying to gauge it off of the track temperature; that’s the biggest thing everybody looks at. They were going to try to run a high 3.90 and it did, and for the second session, it was just a matter of how much the track temp would come around. That long delay [following Joe Hartley’s oildown] there in the middle of the session really helped us out to where we could do a little bit more adjustment, and the track tightened up a little bit more. It probably dropped another 5-10 degrees from the start to the finish of the session, and we were able to sneak one in.
“It was nice after last year on Friday [when water seepage at the top end canceled most of the day] to come in here and get two sessions off. I think it was great for the fans, for us to get down the racetrack. If it could have been a little bit cooler, we might have been able to fire off a little bit quicker runs, but it wasn’t the case. Tomorrow, we’ll just go out there and see what we can do. For us, it’ll be being able to practice for Sunday to see what we can and can’t get away with. We’ll see what happens.”
Prior to Dixon's last-pair shot, Spencer Massey had taken the No. 1 spot with a 3.908 in the U.S. Smokeless rain, stealing it from Rod Fuller's Michigan Cat dragster, whose 3.929 had ripped the pole from the Brandon Bernstein, who had run 3.939. Shawn Langdon grabbed the No. 3 spot behind Dixon and Massey with a 3.927 and Bernstein ended up sixth as Antron Brown was able to squeeze into the top five behind Fuller with a 3.933.
Joe Hartley holds down the 12th position, the final spot to transfer over to Saturday's final two sessions. Eighteen Top Fuelers made passes Friday, meaning that six dragsters will have to try to be among Saturday's quickest runners for the four open spots.
Mike Neff
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Neff's John Medlen-tuned Drive One Mustang went from 12th to first in the second session with a 4.190 that was the best of the four John Force Racing cars in the top seven spots. Neff's teammate, Robert Hight, sits second in the Auto Club Mustang with a 4.214.
“The track was tricky today, especially in the first session," said Neff, who is looking for his first No. 1 spot of the year. "The improvement that we had in the afternoon came from a combination of more rubber on the surface and cooler track temperatures. This was a big run for us, and it was also important for Robert Hight to come in at the No. 2 spot. We’re the two drivers on the Force team that have to get back into the Countdown points race, so this was very encouraging.
"It’s hard to say what tomorrow’s conditions will be like, but if the sun is out there beating down on the track, it will be tricky again. There won’t be a chance to lay enough rubber on the racing surface to prevent tire spin on the top end. When you have conditions like that, it’s very important to make the most of it during the first half of the run."
Red-hot Tony Pedregon, the defending event champ and winner of the last two races on the tour, is qualified third. Pedregon's Dickie Venables-wrenched Quaker State Chevy again is sporting Nitro Fish livery and grabbed the third spot with a 4.217. Ron Capps in fourth with the NAPA Dodge at 4.236 and is followed on the grid by Ashley Force Hood (4.241), Jack Beckman (4.252), John Force (4.252), and first-session leader Bob Tasca III (4.263).
Del Worsham sits in the 12th spot with the Al-Anabi Toyota at 4.314. On the outside and needing to make a top-16 run tomorrow are five drivers, including defending world champ Cruz Pedregon and Tim Wilkerson.
Allen Johnson
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Just as Summit teammates Greg Anderson (6.666) and Jason Line (6.667) were ready to celebrate being 1-2 at their sponsor's event at the track that Summit also sponsors, along came Johnson and Mike Edwards in the final pair of the day's final qualifying session to spoil it with respective passes of 6.649 and 6.655 to grab the top two spots.
Edwards had been No. 1 after the first session with a 6.677 but was bumped back to third by the time he staged, yet few doubted he was capable of taking back the top spot. It was Johnson, however, who had been third after the first run, who stole the headlines from all three of them at the track where last year he won the K&N Horsepower Challenge.
“This run was much better than our [6.712] run this morning, where we totally missed it," said Johnson. "We overestimated the track and it spun the tires. In the second session, we really killed it [ran good] on the early part of the run, and that’s where you have to do well to run a good e.t. The computer graph looked very good after the pass. There was a little bit that we left on the table, but not much.
“The [newly-paved] track felt very good, and it will get better as the fuel cars make more runs and lay more rubber on the track.”
Warren Johnson finished the day where he started it, in fifth with his K&N Pontiac, despite improving from a 6.72 to a 6.68. As testament to the quickness of the final session, Ron Krisher, who was fourth after the first pass at 6.714, could not improve and dropped all the way to 11th. Points leader Jeg Coughlin is sixth with a 6.700.
Larry Morgan, runner-up at the only two previous races in this event's history, holds down the all-important 12th spot with a 6.718. Rickie Jones, Johnny Gray, and V. Gaines lead the list of perennial qualifiers who will need to bump into the field Saturday.
Matt Guidera
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Eddie Krawiec, Guidera, and Andrew Hines had the three quickest bikes in both sessions and all three improved in the final session, but Guidera's Mohegan Sun Buell was quickest when it counted most – at the end of the day – where his 7.001 took the top spot ahead of first-session leader Krawiec. Guidera had run 7.072 for the second spot on the first session behind Krawiec's 7.058, and although Krawiec's Harley also stepped up, his 7.013 was only good for second, just two ticks ahead of teammate Andrew Hines' 7.015.
“That was an awesome run for the team,” said Guidera. “We worked on the setup a little bit and were able to get a little bit better hold of the starting line, and that just put me through the first eighth-mile a little quicker. The track is coming in a little bit better and that’s good because it wasn’t that great this morning. I anticipate the track getting a little bit better tomorrow, and hopefully we can lower our time a little bit more with a good tune-up.
“We were close at [Englishtown]; I thought we were going to get the No. 1 spot there. We’re on a little bit of a mini streak right now, and we’d like to keep it going and hopefully get a No. 1 qualifying position. That would be remarkable for our team going up against the likes of Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec, the champion. Hector [Arana] has such a great bike, and Matt Smith; I’m waiting for him to pull one out any time. That would just be awesome for our team to get that No. 1 spot, so we’re going to keep our heads down.”
Steve Johnson has the field's quickest Suzuki after posting a 7.070 in the second session, where almost every rider improved on their initial pass. Rookie-of-the-year contender Doug Horne is fifth aboard his Buell with a 7.076. Hector Arana (7.0778), Matt Smith (7.097), and Karen Stoffer (7.100) round out the top eight.
David Hope's Buell is in the final transfer spot with a 12th-best 7.137. Among those who will need to bump into the field Saturday are Englishtown winner Craig Treble, who broke behind the starting line on his second attempt, and Angie McBride, aboard Smith's former championship-winning Buell. Twenty bikes made passes Friday.